The CPA ‘will improve the value of our homes'

To the editor I had a little chuckle when I read “My Turn” by Luke Regier. Mr. Regier painted this picture of the mean tax man reining yet another unfair tax onto those poor people buying a home in our community. He develops the false impression that the Community Preservation Tax is some huge tax that will prevent good wholesome families from being able to buy a home here. Let me first ask if Mr. Regier wrote a letter to all the home builders, urging them not to price their homes according to an exponentially escalating real estate market over the last five years. Did he plead with them to keep their new home prices in sync only with the rising costs of labor and materials not the escalating market value that has taken place in our town. Let me do the math to put it in a reality perspective. If I was buying a home in Warwick for $350,000, the additional cost that would be “passed on” to me by the seller would be $1,875.00. I can tell you with all confidence that I certainly wouldn’t change my mind about buying a home in this beautiful town over 1,900 bucks. If I was buying a beautiful mansion in Pelton Crossing for $649,000, I would pay $4,117.50 more. If I was paying that much for a home, 4,100 bucks wouldn’t make that much difference to me. I always appreciate a difference of opinion. Just don’t exaggerate when you express it. The Preservation Tax will, in many ways, improve the value of our homes in the long term and pay for itself over and over again. Bob Linguanti Bellvale